Fish that is not fresh is a very dangerous food and great care should be
taken in selecting only fish fit to eat. If the fish is hard in body and
the eyes are clear and bright, the gills a bright red and slimy, the
flesh so firm that when pressed the marks of the fingers do not remain,
the scales not dry or easy to loosen, then the fish is fresh.

In the refrigerator fish will taint butter and other foods if placed in
the same compartment, so that in most cases it is better to lay it on a
plate on a pan of ice, or wrap it in parchment or waxed paper and put it
in the ice box.

Pickerel weighing more than five pounds should not be bought. If belly
is thick it is likely that there is another fish inside. This smaller
fish or any found in any other fish may not be used as food.

Salt fish should be soaked in fresh water, skin side up, to draw out the
salt.

Each fish is at its best in its season, for instance:--

Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea, Striped Bass, Porgies, Sea-trout or Weakfish
are best from April to September.

Fluke and Flounders are good all year round, but the fluke is better
than the flounder in summer. Carp may be had all year, but care must be
taken that it has not been in polluted water.

Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Redsnapper, Salmon, Whitefish are good
all year.